SCREENING OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE BETWEEN BIOFILM PRODUCER AND NON-BIOFILM PRODUCER OF KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIAE ISOLATES
Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a common cause of nosocomial infections. Antibiotic resistance and the ability to form biofilm, as two key virulence factors of K. pneumoniae, are involved in the persistence of infections. Aim: determine the rate of (10) antibiotics activity against isolated K. pneumoniae then evaluate the ability of isolated bacteria to produce biofilm by using Congo red agar method and studying the antibiotic resistance pattern between biofilm producer and non-biofilm producer of K. pneumoniae isolates. Material and methods: over a period of 4 months a total of 37 k. pneumoniae isolates were collected. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disc diffusion method according to CLSI. Biofilm production was assessed by Congo red agar method. Results: Antibiotic susceptibility profile showed a variable level of resistance. The highest resistance was reported with tetracycline (56.8%). And the highest susceptibility was reported with imipenem (85.6%) and meropenem (85.6%). Biofilm by Congo red agar method was detected in 19 isolates with a percentage of (51.35%) however, 18 (48.65%) of isolates were non biofilm producer. The association of antibiotic resistance between biofilm-producing and non-biofilm-producing K. pneumoniae isolates was evaluated by the Chi-square test and the p-value was found to be 0.97 (statistically non-significant). Conclusion: our study revealed that the K. pneumoniae isolates differed in their responses against used antibiotics, moreover they are varied in their ability to produce biofilm and the resistance pattern between biofilm producer and non-producer was no significant. More studies are needed to characterize the pattern of antibiotic resistance between biofilm producer and non-biofilm producer of K. pneumoniae isolates and universal efforts should be increased to prevent the prevalence of multi- antibiotic resistant bacteria and eliminate the hospital born bacteria that are causing a great rise in mortality.
Keywords: Klebsiella Pneumoniae, Antibiotic Resistance, Biofilm.